Tag Archives: sourdough

Such as shame. So soon into the new year and so unexpected. Who knew you couldn’t freeze sourdough starter? Not the website I consulted (I’m mentioning no names here…)

A couple of weeks away and I lose not only the source of my daily bread, but a friend who never bothered me unless I needed him, a friend who gave and gave and never asked anything for in return apart from a simple weekly feed, a friend who was a source of entertainment and wonder and who went through a lot with me in a short space of time. I learned a lot from that starter; I thought this was the beginning (geddit?!) of a beautiful relationship.

I need to honour the passing of my first starter here to atone for the fortnight of neglect that sealed its fate. So, here’s to you, sourdough starter – thanks for all the good times: my first blooming white sourdough, the wholemeal loaf that so impressed the sensitive gluttons, a heady apricot and walnut crumb that was nutty perfection when toasted, and this sticky pistachio and date concoction that was saved from the brink of cake by my starter’s savoury roots:

Friday night: baked homemade sourdough bread for the first time, then lamented that it had taken me until so late in life to get around to doing such a ludicrously easy and smugly satisfying thing. The friends I’d invited over for dinner mistook me for a domestic goddess because, due to a hectic week that had led me to put off the baking again and again, the timing of the freshly baked bread coming out of the oven coincided exactly with their arrival. I insisted that it was my first time and by no means a regular occurrence, but they swatted away my protestations as modesty. Hey ho, goddess it is then. We sliced it and dipped it in homemade pesto as a starter and it was heaven.

Saturday am: spolit said friends by whipping up scrambled eggs on sourdough toast for breakfast. They’re sensitive gluttons – unwilling to resist delicious food but equally unwilling to think about what devilish ingredients have made it so damn edible. So I hid diligently in the kitchen to pour in the tub of cream and coax the eggs to fluffy perfection. The sensitive gluttons only saw the cold knob of butter being stirred in at the end and so enjoyed the finished dish unquestioningly. The sourdough made great toast too.